Our Board

Israel Ruiz, Chair

Israel Ruiz is the executive vice president and treasurer of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Ruiz is the Institute’s chief financial officer and, as a trustee of the MIT Corporation and a member of its executive committee, is the chief steward of over $17 billion of MIT’s financial assets and $3.4 billion in operating revenues, and is responsible for administering the Institute’s $5 billion capital plan through 2030.

With a strong understanding of MIT’s innovation ecosystem and future technology trajectories, Ruiz was instrumental in leading the re-zoning effort of Kendall Square in 2013 with an eye toward creating place and providing density and mixed-use development to accelerate the process to move ideas from lab to market. Ruiz continues to actively co-lead the development of the process through its complex execution phase, expected to last beyond 2020.

At MIT, Ruiz is responsible for financial and debt strategy development, budget and capital planning, and the integrity of financial information. His other areas of responsibility include human resources, information systems, campus facilities, security and safety, compliance, government relations, international support, sustainability, and medical.

Prior to becoming executive vice president and treasurer in 2011, Ruiz held several roles of increasing responsibility at MIT, most recently serving as vice president of finance. Involved since the early 2000s with digital education, in 2009–2010 Ruiz was instrumental in launching a group to evaluate e-learning opportunities in response to the global financial crisis. The work of this group ultimately led MIT to launch its online efforts—MITx in 2011 and edX in 2012—in partnership with Harvard University. In 2014, Ruiz co-led the task force that published the “Future of MIT Education,” outlining the tremendous opportunities that digital learning technologies bring to residential education and to the global market for education. Ruiz previously held management and engineering roles at Hewlett-Packard and Nissan Automotive.

Ruiz holds a master’s degree from the MIT Sloan School of Management and a six-year degree in industrial and mechanical engineering from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, in his native Barcelona.

Anantha P. Chandrakasan

Anantha P. Chandrakasan received the BS, MS and PhD degrees in electrical engineering and computer sciences from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1989, 1990, and 1994, respectively. Since September 1994, he has been with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he is currently the Vannevar Bush Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. In July of 2017, Chandrakasan was named the Dean of MIT’s School of Engineering.

Chandrakasan is the co-recipient of several awards, including the 2007 ISSCC Beatrice Winner Award for Editorial Excellence and the ISSCC Jack Kilby Award for Outstanding Student Paper (2007, 2008, 2009). He received the 2009 Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) University Researcher Award and the 2013 IEEE Donald O. Pederson Award in Solid-State Circuits. In 2015, he was elected to the National Academy of Engineering.

Chandrakasan is an IEEE Fellow and has served in various roles for the IEEE ISSCC, including conference chair (since 2010), program chair, signal processing subcommittee chair, and technology directions subcommittee chair. He served as director of the MIT Microsystems Technology Laboratories from 2006 to 2011, and was named head of the MIT Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department in July 2011.

Linda Pizzuti Henry

Linda Pizzuti Henry is the managing director of Boston Globe Media Partners, a 144-year-old print, digital, event, publishing, and marketing company with 26 Pulitzer Prizes. She is a co-founder of HUBweek, a collaboration among the Boston Globe, Harvard University, MIT, and Massachusetts General Hospital that explores the intersection of art, science, and technology. Pizzuti Henry is also an early-stage-impact investor, an Emmy-winning television producer with two shows currently airing, and a community activist.

Pizzuti Henry serves as a trustee of the Liverpool Football Club Foundation, a director of the Red Sox Foundation, chair of the Boston Globe Foundation, and chair of the John W. Henry Family Foundation. In addition, Pizzuti Henry is a founder of the Boston Public Market and serves on the advisory board of MassChallenge.

Pizzuti Henry received her BS from Babson College and a master’s degree in real estate development from MIT. She spends a lot of time questioning referee and umpire decisions, is surprisingly knowledgeable about team mascots, and passionately believes in the bright future of Boston.

Robert Kraft

Robert Kraft is the founder, chairman, and CEO of The Kraft Group, based in Foxborough, Massachusetts. The Kraft Group is the holding company of the Kraft family’s many businesses, including the New England Patriots, the New England Revolution, Gillette Stadium, Patriot Place, International Forest Products, Rand-Whitney Group, Rand-Whitney Containerboard, and a portfolio of more than 200 private equity investments.

As chairman and CEO of the New England Patriots, combined with the New England Revolution, Kraft changed the culture of professional sports in New England by delivering 13 conference titles and five league championships in the past two decades. Since Kraft purchased the Patriots in 1994, the team has won more games, including playoff games (26), division titles (16), conference titles (8) and Super Bowls (5) than any other team in the NFL. Kraft also built the only privately financed, world-class sports and entertainment complex with the construction of Gillette Stadium and Patriot Place.

Over the past five decades, the Kraft family has been one of New England’s most philanthropic families, donating hundreds of millions of dollars in support of local charities, civic affairs, and health care, including a $25 million pledge to Partners HealthCare to launch the Kraft Center for Community Health and a $20 million pledge to Harvard Business School to establish an endowment for the advancement of precision medicine.

Brad Powell

Brad Powell is the managing director of investments for Emerson Collective. In this position, he oversees Emerson’s financial and investment activity. This requires directing diligence work, coordinating research and advising the founders and entrepreneurs who operate the companies within Emerson’s portfolio. He is a member of and advisor to several boards of both private for-profit and non-profit organizations. In addition to this role, Powell has primary responsibility for driving the community impact work of the Collective.

Prior to joining Emerson, Powell’s career spanned many different sectors, including public accounting, management consulting, financial services and commercial real estate. He has launched and built several startups and worked in large corporate and multinational organizations. He has undergraduate degrees in accounting and computer science and was a certified public accountant. Powell has two graduate degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology–a master’s of science in real estate and an MBA from the Sloan School of Management.

Sue Siegel

Sue Siegel is CEO of GE Ventures, GE’s growth and innovation business comprised of investing, licensing, and new business creation. Siegel has more than 30 years’ experience in the corporate world and in venture capital. Previously, Siegel led investments and served as on the boards of companies in personalized medicine, digital health, and life sciences at Mohr Davidow Ventures. Prior to that, she was president and board member of Affymetrix, and led the company’s transformation from a pre-revenue start-up to a global, multi-billion dollar genomics leader. Siegel also led strategy, technology development, licensing, and manufacturing, as well as new market creation and development at Bio-Rad, DuPont, and Amersham.

Siegel has served on many corporate and non-profit boards and has been recognized as one of the “100 Most Influential Women in Silicon Valley.” Siegel lives in Silicon Valley with her husband and her two sons.

Jeremy Wertheimer

Jeremy Wertheimer received a BE in electrical engineering from Cooper Union and an SM in computer science and PhD in artificial intelligence from MIT. He started ITA Software when he graduated from MIT, and grew it to a company with more than 400 employees. Google acquired ITA Software in 2011. Jeremy is now vice president for engineering at Google. He serves on the board of trustees of Cooper Union, on several visiting and advisory committees at MIT, and on the boards of several biotech startups.

The Engine Investment Advisory Committee

David Fialkow

David Fialkow is a co-founder and managing director of General Catalyst, a venture capital firm with offices in Boston, New York, and Palo Alto, and approximately $3.75 billion in total capital. Fialkow’s focus areas include travel, financial services, and e-commerce, as well as leading General Catalyst’s XIR program. Prior to co-founding General Catalyst with Joel Cutler, Fialkow and Cutler built and sold four companies, including National Leisure Group (sold to World Travel Holdings), Alliance Development Group (sold to MyPoints.com), Retail Growth ATM Systems (sold to PNC Bank), and Starboard Cruise Services (sold to LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton, Inc.).

Over the last few years, he has raised millions of dollars for children’s programs by biking, running, climbing, and rowing. He and his wife Nina make documentaries focused on healthcare and social justice. Fialkow is chairman of the board of The Pan-Mass Challenge and serves on several other non-profit boards as well, including Facing History and Ourselves and Debate Mate. He also is on the board of The Boston Beer Company.

Felipe Chico

Felipe Chico Hernández is the co-founder of Rodina, a private investment firm and family office based in Mexico City, focused on mid-sized investment projects, providing strong financial and operational support.

Mr. Chico has been in charge, along with his brother, of their family’s office, where he led the efforts in a significant number of transactions, mainly in the infrastructure, environmental, real estate, construction, and tourism industries. He is an independent member of the investment committee of one of Mexico’s leading early-stage venture and growth equity capital firms. Additionally, he is a board member in a real estate firm and a US regional banking conglomerate, as well as in Veolia Mexico, a French energy, water, and waste management company.

Felipe Chico holds a finance degree with honors from Universidad Iberoamericana and an MBA from Stanford University. He continues to teach finance at his alma mater, and contributes to education and environmental causes in Mexico.

Joi Ito

Joi Ito is an MIT professor and the director of the MIT Media Lab. He is chairman of the board of PureTech Health and a board member of Sony Corp., the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, and The New York Times Co. He is the co-founder and a board member of Digital Garage, an Internet company in Japan. He has created numerous Internet companies, including PSINet Japan and Infoseek Japan. He was an early-stage investor in Formlabs, Flickr, Kickstarter, littleBits, Path, Twitter, Wikia, and other companies.

In 2008, Businessweek named Ito one of the “25 Most Influential People on the Web.” In 2011, Foreign Policy Magazine named him one of the “Top 100 Global Thinkers.” Also in 2011, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Oxford Internet Institute in recognition of his role as one of the world’s leading advocates of Internet freedom. In 2011 and 2012, Nikkei Business selected him as one of the “100 Most Influential People for the Future of Japan.”

In 2013, Ito was awarded a doctor of literature, honoris causa, from The New School. In 2014, he was inducted into the SXSW Interactive Festival Hall of Fame and was awarded the Golden Plate Award by the Academy of Achievement. In 2015, Ito was awarded a doctor of humane letters, honoris causa, from Tufts University.

Jonathan Kraft

As president of The Kraft Group, a private holding company with significant positions in the paper and packaging industry, sports and entertainment, real estate, and with numerous private equity and early-stage venture capital investments, Jonathan Kraft oversees the day-to-day operations of all the group’s companies while maintaining a focus on driving the growth and diversification of the group.

A 1986 graduate of Williams College, Kraft is a trustee emeritus of the school and also chairs its investment committee. He received his MBA from Harvard Business School (1990), where he currently serves on the board of dean’s advisors. Kraft is also on the board of trustees for Belmont Hill School, Dexter Southfield, and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), and chairs MGH’s finance committee. In addition, he serves as a member of the Partners HealthCare Finance Committee and is a member of the advisory board for the Billie Jean King Leadership Initiative.

Amir Nashat

Amir Nashat is a managing partner in Polaris’ Boston office. He joined Polaris in 2002 and focuses on investments in healthcare.

Nashat serves on the Partners Innovation Fund and is a catalyst of the Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation at MIT. He previously served on the board of the New England Venture Capital Association. He has been named to the Forbes Midas List of “Top 100 Venture Capitalists.”

Prior to joining Polaris, Nashat completed his PhD as a Hertz Fellow in chemical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a minor in biology under the guidance of Dr. Robert Langer. Nashat also earned both his MS and BS in materials science and mechanical engineering at the University of California, Berkeley.